Well I hit a stump couple weeks ago full throttle and it seemed fine then, but I think it may have cracked it when I did and I never noticed it. Then yesterday when I got back home after washing the boat I left the motor down and the skeg kicked the driveway so I pulled up and went to prop the motor and I saw the whole lower unit was in half. So I think that little opposite push of force on it made it finally go. Not sure if its fixable or not because it looks like the crack is above where the lower unit would drop from the rest of the motor. Any suggestions will be helpful. Thank God I have a trolling motor.

Only trust those who like big butts, for they cannot lie.

WTN10 wrote:The moral of the story is this: don't cut cabbage when your dog is in heat.

Botiz630 wrote:Finally, I can compensate for my tiny wiener without breaking the bank.

Ya those are blue bills, but the limit on them is 4 now so you're ok. The best way to tell when they are flying is that bullnecks(ringers) are faster and don't have gray on there back. Congrads on your first hunt tho.

tmclaimerFL wrote:One in front is definitely a hen scaup. Good shooting though.

No, I don't. LOL. There was lots of discussion on the ID of these birds at first, but the darkest had the chestnut ring under the neck and dark gray/charcoal bill. No blue bills. None were mature.. the one in back was a 1st season male. Not one of them looked like a proper ringneck. But we went over them real well after we had them in hand.

All three were 1-st yr birds and not really colored like an adult. That probably explains why they were able to get shot by an noob like me.

whaknstak wrote:You got a better pic of those birds coon? One where they are not jumbled together. it looks like three blue bills to me.

No, but we thought the same think and there was lots of discussion about the ID on those birds. The darkest one, young male, had the chestnut ring on the base of the neck. Otherwise his colors were washed out. The female and other young bird (in teh back) were the same, just not fully colored like typical adults. Other shooters nearby did hit properly colored males among other things, so it's pretty certain they are all ringnecks. No blue bills on any of the birds - they are all charcoal gray with ring toward tip.

It's not a big deal because you're perfectly legal, but just so you'll know in the future, the top and bottom birds are definitely bluebills...100% certain. Once you've held a few hens of each species in hand, it becomes easier to distinguish the two. As far as the top bird (drake) is concerned, ringnecks don't have the vermiculated pattern on their backs that you see on that duck... bluebills do. I do think the center bird is an immature ringneck drake.

We got our "old school limit" of bluebills. Should have had 4 per person but we were a little rusty with our shooting and every time we would start packing up to go home a group of 10-15 would land in the spread. We had a group land in the spread while we were picking up decoys.....I love how dumb they are this time of year. We should have been a little more patient. Lesson learned. Great opener none the less.

DUCK-DAWG wrote:It's not a big deal because you're perfectly legal, but just so you'll know in the future, the top and bottom birds are definitely bluebills...100% certain. Once you've held a few hens of each species in hand, it becomes easier to distinguish the two. As far as the top bird (drake) is concerned, ringnecks don't have the vermiculated pattern on their backs that you see on that duck... bluebills do. I do think the center bird is an immature ringneck drake.

I think you're right. The middle one was the first bird down, and the one with the chestnut ring under his neck, so we just classed the others as females of the same type. Looking at pics of bluebills/scaup I can see that the bill can be pretty dark sometimes. Not always blue/gray. Good to know, for next time! Thanks for pointing it out.